<p>PhD and graduate programs that don’t lead to good paying jobs will have to cut costs and tuition if they want to keep students.</p>
<p>Seeing some comparisons to the Lehman dissolution on the potential issues for banks and money markets.</p>
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<p>But that’s a lot of people and a lot of companies. I hold government debt (although my mom was supposed to take those bonds out!); does that mean I would get my money right away if I demanded it?</p>
<p>I don’t think that you can demand it. You are entitled to timely interest payments but you loaned the principle for a stated period of time. If you wanted your principle, you’d have to sell the bond on the open market or wait until maturity.</p>
<p>It looks like the S&P reports was “a bit” inaccurate:</p>
<p>[S&P</a> official: Credible deficit cuts being proposed - Yahoo! Finance](<a href=“http://finance.yahoo.com/news/SP-official-Credible-deficit-apf-858247074.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=6&asset=&ccode=]S&P”>http://finance.yahoo.com/news/SP-official-Credible-deficit-apf-858247074.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=6&asset=&ccode=)</p>
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<p>What a mess.</p>
<p>In my crude grasp of all this, it feels as if we’ve experienced at least two gargantuan bubbles close together – internet and housing (and possibly now a third in the form of education). Lots and lots of presumed wealth just went up in a poof of smoke. Since then, there’s been all kinds of fancy footwork to keep us operating sort of as usual but the fact is that the presumed wealth disappeared . . .</p>
<p>“But that’s a lot of people and a lot of companies. I hold government debt (although my mom was supposed to take those bonds out!); does that mean I would get my money right away if I demanded it?”</p>
<p>it depends on whether or not your treasury security has matured. if it has not, then you would not be entitled to cash in the bond. if it has, you are entitled to, but it is uncertain whether or not the money will be there.</p>
<p>take a look at this:
[You</a> choose: who gets paid (and who doesn’t) - The Washington Post](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/federal-debt-limit-you-choose-who-gets-paid/?hpid=z2]You”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/federal-debt-limit-you-choose-who-gets-paid/?hpid=z2)</p>
<p>play around with who gets paid if the government defaults. you’ll realise how hard the choices are.<br>
not to mention the fact that simply by being in a situation where a choice has to be made, the government has gone into default. that’s what it means to choose which bills you pay</p>
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<p>I’ve only been in that position once in my life.</p>
<p>My solution was to sell my stereo so that I could pay the rent.</p>
<p>I was very young …</p>
<p>"Today | 12:04 PM </p>
<p>TatinG </p>
<p>PhD and graduate programs that don’t lead to good paying jobs will have to cut costs and tuition if they want to keep students."</p>
<p>Or instead of cutting tuition, they might just expand the pool of acceptances so that they end up with wealthier students being the ones who end up attending. Not necessarily more qualified or better students, but wealthier. And ultimately, as Dstark pointed out, we move toward a society which pushes down the middle class.</p>
<p>The following are based on information from this link I posted earlier:
<a href=“http://www.bipartisanpolicy.org/sites/default/files/Debt%20Ceiling%20Analysis%20FINAL.pdf[/url]”>http://www.bipartisanpolicy.org/sites/default/files/Debt%20Ceiling%20Analysis%20FINAL.pdf</a>
When President Obama said that he could not guarantee that Social Security checks would go out on Wednesday, he was not kidding.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, the government is set to make $23 billion in social security payments. the total revenue intake for that day is $12 Billion. This is not even considering any other payments to be made that day.</p>
<p>Next Thursday, the government will become liable for payment for $91 billion in treasury securities maturing. Its revenue for that day is $4 billion. </p>
<p>The Washington Post has indicated that we have already reached the borrowing limit, and that money being spent now is coming from the government’s cash reserves. </p>
<p>If someone does not believe that the consequences will be felt immediately, they are dangerously ignorant of the circumstances of the situation</p>
<p>“So, if I decide to borrow money have my house remodeled, I can just look at the market price for house remodeling. I’ll have to pay the market price, plus the price for my loan, and I can safely ignore all effects outside my household. I shouldn’t borrow if I can’t afford to pay back the loan, because it’s not going to pay itself back.”</p>
<p>I feel like there are UNPREDICTABLE OUTCOMES here, however, that we now have to factor in as they have become likelier: you lose your job, get a demotion, get furloughed, get a pay cut; the value of your house goes down a lot. And for some in the shrinking segment of the economy which has some extra assets or wealth, stock market goes down, bond mkt goes down, dollar goes down, treasuries go down.</p>
<p>Solution for the household:
cut spending way back, defer any big expenses, do without or buy cheaper brands
hold onto a job you hate, accept pay-cuts
do not remodel or invest in your home
de-leverage (pay back cc debt, mortgage, student loans) with any excess cash flow or
savings you have
walk away from your house and leave it to the bank if you cannot
afford your mortgage
payments and move in with family or friend
sell your stocks and bonds and buy gold</p>
<p>WITHOUT NET GROWTH IN THE ECONOMY AS A WHOLE, this is the cycle we are caught in. Uncertainty (now in the stock marker, the value of the dollar, gov bonds…) is very very expensive to an economy- a vicious cycle.</p>
<p>TRANSFER PAYMENTS can fuel growth as long as they do NOT ADD to the uncertainty: corps, wealthy MUST keep investing, growing biz for the economy to grow.</p>
<p>SO is there a huge disconnect in the understanding of those who so fear growth of national debt or budget deficit as a percentage of GDP? The cappers need to be convinced otherwise or there will be implosion.</p>
<p>p.s. what percentage of gov financing is coming from outside of US?</p>
<p>U.S. defense firms and government contractors are starting to prepare for the unthinkable: The possibility that the U.S. government, the ultimate reliable customer, may not be able to pay its bills on time.</p>
<p>As the clock ticks down in debt ceiling talks, defense industry officials say they are contemplating a range of options for surviving a potential government default. Some companies are reviewing their balance sheets to calculate how long that can get through any delay in payments. Others are scrutinizing contracts to determine what work they must perform if the government runs out of cash.</p>
<p>[Defense</a> Industry Preps for U.S. Default - WSJ.com](<a href=“Defense Industry Preps for U.S. Default - WSJ”>Defense Industry Preps for U.S. Default - WSJ)</p>
<p>BTW, I sent the email to my siblings about replacing our mother’s SS payments if they stop.</p>
<p>A lot of the federal government offices could be closed down and no one would even notice. Dept of Education? Dept. of Commerce? Dept. of Agriculture? </p>
<p>The FAA has been closed for days now and not one thing has changed for the flying public.</p>
<p>“what percentage of gov financing is coming form outside of US?”</p>
<p>about $4.5 trillion of our $14.3 trillion is held by other countries</p>
<p>“The FAA has been closed for days now and not one thing has changed for the flying public.”</p>
<p>The flying public has paid attention. I booked flights on Alaska just because they were among the few airlines that dropped their fares by the appropriate $$ instead of pocketing the tax like many other airlines did. I’m not happy about the FAA being closed. Who is overseeing the inspections of the damn flying tin cans? Today, there were 2 near misses at SeaTac. It is just a coincidence, but a few months from now real hell can break loose.</p>
<p>“A lot of the federal government offices could be closed down and no one would even notice.”</p>
<p>Well, for starters, the economies of Maryland, Virginia, and DC would tank reeeeeally badly</p>
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<p>See this is one of the problems with the whole issue – most people have no idea what the government does. Go ahead, shut down the Department of Agriculture – our entire food system will shut down. Wanna buy uninspected meat? Want to move produce across state lines? How about the water you drink – who’s looking out for that? We won’t even get into watershed issues, rural sewage systems (something like 80% of all sewage in this county is handled by rural systems), research in food, medicine, plastics, alternative energy just to name a few. Even law enforcement (did you know that cattle rustling in this county is multi-billion dollar problem??) would be effected by shutting down the Department of Agriculture.</p>
<p>Some important bills are stalled because the stupid government is incapacitated by the debt issues…</p>
<p>I like it when the government is mostly incapacitated. They are less likely to interfere in my life.</p>
<p>I am certain there will be a last minute compromise and everything will be fine. These people DO want to be re-elected. This is just posturing by both parties. Just hang in there and try not to fall into the drama.</p>
<p>TatinG, just ignore Lololu. After all, what’s a little contaminated food between friends? A few people here and there might die, but it’s worth it if it helps business profits in a tough economy. </p>
<p>As for shutting down the Dept of Commerce - I’d welcome that. I just love surprises, and shutting the Dept now is great timing. We’re entering the height of hurricane season, since the US’ worst hurricanes typically occur in August and September. Since NOAA and all our weather prediction services are in the Dept of Commerce, we’d have a wonderful opportunity to be surprised. Who wants to be so stodgy as to want to actually KNOW when a hurricane is forming and where it’s headed, after all.</p>